


of the lines drawn between us

by gods_among_us (orphan_account)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1940s, Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, M/M, Pre-War, theyre.... rly fucking good im sorry honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 15:39:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9663914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/gods_among_us
Summary: You think John is your very best friend. He has pretty eyes and pretty lips and a pretty smile and when he gets really excited he makes a noise like a tea kettle and clenches his fists really tight and you love it. He is only about as tall as your shoulder and you don’t think you’ll ever stop making fun of him for it.Your father tells you that you shouldn’t spend so much time with John and you give him a funny look, say that John is your best friend. Your father shakes his head.“Not anymore, Dave.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [caryophyllaceae (xphantomhive)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xphantomhive/gifts).



> FIGHT ME CAELYN 
> 
> we share like. every single john headcanon. ily.

Your name is Dave Strider. 

Your brother Dirk is leaving for some reason. 

Your father won’t tell you why, just that he’s doing something very important and that you need to stop being a nosy little shit. You know for a fact that Rose will not shut up about Dirk, and you also know for a fact that Roxy most likely won’t care because she’s still obsessed with that Spanish asshole who lives down the street and calls her nicknames far too cheeky and sweet for your pleasure (Dirk doesn’t like him either. Part of you wonders why that boy wasn’t being taken away for “important business” instead).

You guess it’s the same reason that Rose’s friend from down the lane went on a vacation with her whole family last winter and hasn’t returned since. If they really were leaving, they must’ve been pretty rushed, because they only brought a couple of bags and once you followed Dirk and his friends when they busted into the old places for kicks. A couple of his buddies grabbed a couple of pretty things that lay around the house to sell off for a quick buck. Dirk told you not to break anything, but take whatever you wanted. You nodded and scampered up to the room you knew belonged to Rose’s friend, just to make sure there weren’t any heirlooms or toys a young boy could want to stash away. The older boys, you were sure, were on a hunt for the elder sister’s unmentionables. 

The only thing you took from the room was a spinning top, the only remotely un-girly thing that seemed to be owned in the room. You went back downstairs to the urgent waving of one of Dirk’s friends and the group dispersed into the night, Dirk dragging you home before your absence was realized. 

You miss Dirk. Rose is annoying and you hate her. Roxy is cool, you guess, but there is a clear difference of power between a teenage girl and, well, you. Dirk told you that he’d be back before you missed him, the two of you had shared your secret brotherly handshake, and when you woke up the next morning your parents informed you he had gone. You had bugged your mother all morning about where he was, but she only sighed and asked you to simmer down, darling, your brother will be back soon. And you’d crinkled your nose up at the pet name, tried to bug her more, but deep down you knew there would be no more questions. 

When you tell John about Dirk, he huffs and pouts. He really liked Dirk. He didn’t have an older brother, only an older sister that your sister sometimes spent time with. They would paint their nails and do each other’s hair and whisper and giggle and you and John did the cool stuff, like racing down the streets and pranking your neighbors and selling his sister’s sweets you’d stolen so you could buy tickets to the cinema. 

You think John is your very best friend. He has pretty eyes and pretty lips and a pretty smile and when he gets really excited he makes a noise like a tea kettle and clenches his fists really tight and you love it. He is only about as tall as your shoulder and you don’t think you’ll ever stop making fun of him for it. He asks where Dirk went. You told him he got all dressed up and stuff and went on “important business,” for this you drop your voice to a humorously low pitch that sends John into giggles. 

When you leave John’s house that evening, trying to make it home before the sky went completely black, you call out your arrival when you get home and skip into the dining room in time for dinner, dusting off the front of your shirt and plopping into your usual spot, the chair beside yours is sad and empty. 

Your father tells you that you shouldn’t spend so much time with John and you give him a funny look, say that John is your best friend. Your father shakes his head. 

“Not anymore, Dave.”

You crinkle up your nose and rolls your eyes and ignore that. After dinner, you scurry to your bedroom before your parents can scold you for not finishing your greens and close the door. You look out your window, trying to see if you can see John’s house down the block, cupping your hands around your face as your stare outside. The boy that lives next door to your will sometimes talk to you through his window since yours match up together. He’s weird and pale and you think he’s kind of a dork but you don’t say anything. Bitterly, you get reminded that his brother wasn’t off on “important business” either. You don’t see much because the street lamps that don the sidewalks are all off for some reason. You hear something stir outside your bedroom door, so you shut your window and put the spinning top in your bedside drawer. You don’t know why you took it, it’s kind of babyish anyways. You lean against your headboard and glance at your side drawer and wonder if you’ve seen that thing before.

You rack your brain for the answer for the next couple of weeks, feeling severe deja vu about the small toy whenever it crosses your mind. Which is a lot. Your next-door neighbor invites you to his birthday party and your mother makes Roxy take you shopping for him. Roxy immediately drags you to the store the guitar-playing boy works at and forces you to walk around as if you’ll find a gift for Karkat in the produce market. 

You immediately go to the sweets aisle. Sometimes, when you’re feeling especially rebellious, you’ll open a bag and pop a few sweets into your pockets. No one’s ever caught you, you’re pretty damn careful about the whole ordeal. 

The clerk’s younger brother seems to be ahead of you, and he is thoroughly investigating the shelf of dark chocolate. You scoot over to him and tap him on the shoulder. He jumps. 

“Oh,” he sighs, “It’s you.” 

“Yep.”

He flushes a little in the face. “I wasn’t-,” 

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” you say and pick a lollipop off a rock, shoving it into your coat pocket. He watches you, then huffs. 

“Fine. But no more after this, alright? I’ll get in trouble.”

“Can I take one more?” you ask, testing your boundaries just a little, “It’s for my best friend.”

He blinks. “Johnathan?” 

“Just John.” 

“Oh, hush, same difference,” he waves a hand dismissively, “Your father lets you spend time with him?” 

“Duh. You’re his friend too, you know.”

The boy looked behind himself, teetering on his heels, then shook his head. “I’m not allowed to be. That’s why I’m not going to Kar’s birthday.” 

“What’s wrong with him?” you demand, narrowing your eyes. 

“You know what’s wrong with him.”

You can vividly imagine punching him in the nose. Who is he to think he’s better than John? You’ve got a couple of inches on him, too, you know it’ll be a no-brainer fight unless he slaps and pulls at your hair like a woman. 

He wrings his scarf in his hands. “Well, um, you know. He’s just…”

“Dave!” Roxy shouts, “We’re leaving!” 

You give him a last glare, grab a blue-colored lollipop, and run off to your older sister, who has pink in her cheeks. The clerk is grinning with an annoying arrogance that reminds you why you hate him, a toothpick dangling from the corner of his mouth.

“Come back soon, doll,” he tells Roxy, who just scoffs at him, grabs your hand, and pulls you out of the store. 

On the way home, she informs you she’s going to Jane’s because  _ some people  _ don’t know how to  _ contain themselves in public  _ and have  _ no idea how to be a gentleman and not an insufferable doucheass _ .

You chalk up that she’s a more than just a little mad. 

She forks off to the Crocker house and you make your way home. When you get inside, your mother asks you where Roxy is. You tell her she’s at Jane’s mindlessly, starting up the stairs to see if you could try and window-talk with Karkat, though you are pretty sure he’s still at church. 

“Dave,” she tells you, and when you look back, she’s got worry in her features, “Dave, you two were supposed to come home.” 

“She’s just at Jane’s,” you said, “Mr. Crocker usually lets us stay for dinner.” 

Your mother shook her head. “I think you should all spend less time there.” 

You furrow your brow. “Why?” 

“Just because you should,” she says and that’s her final answer, you know you won’t get anything more out of her.

So you blurt out, “Why isn’t Kankri gone?”

She blanks, then clears her throat and asks, “Pardon?”

“Dirk is gone but Karkat’s brother doesn’t have to go anywhere at all. Why?” 

“..Karkat’s brother is a seminarian, dear,” your mother said, “Dirk isn’t.” 

You stare at her for a long time, then ask, “What is he?”

“What?”

“What’s he doing?” 

She swallows. For a moment, you wonder if she’s going to tell you, then she just casts her eyes down and says, “Something important.” 

You clench your fists and stomp upstairs. 

Yes, you find very quickly you do not like these “important things.” 

**Author's Note:**

> [check my blog out. pls i beg for followers.](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)


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